White Roofs Catch On as Energy Cost Cutters

Relying on the centuries-old principle that white objects absorb less heat than dark ones, homeowners are in the vanguard of a movement embracing “cool roofs” as one of the most affordable weapons against climate change. Around the country, roof makers are racing to develop products in the hope of profiting as the movement spreads from the flat roofs of the country’s malls to the sloped roofs of its suburbs. Years of detailed work by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory have provided the roof makers with a rainbow of colors — the equivalent of a table of the elements — showing the amount of light that each hue reflects and the amount of heat it re-emits. More>